Hee. So lets see, first you realize that there is a terrorist in the water (or likely to be) then you transport two of the thousands (maybe four) trained sea-lions to that harbor, then you say go get 'em, and one retrieves something that looks like the fake mine used for training, and the other attacks and drowns a surfer.

Given the cost involved with training and transporting sea lions, would it not be cheaper and more effective to use a navy seal (the human kind) for this sort of task?

If you were a branch of the armed forces that didn't seem to be exactly on the front line in Afghanistan and were worried about funding and how to persuade the powers that be that a fleet of aircraft carriers were necessary to fight domestic terrorism - wouldn't you get creative in your terrorist plots?

Well, i think the dolphin and sealion will never actually find a real bomb, but it might speed up check whenever a port has to be sweeped because some important person visits the port. Just like they use dogs now to find it at dry places.

I know lets use fish for UXB work then atleast when it goes wrong you have sushimi for tea...

Possibly the best use for thease sealines is "evidence recovery" on coast guard vessels doing drug patrol. when the runners push the stuff over the side send ];s the location then send a sealion down with a sonar marker so divers can go down and get the evidence later.

However I guess its going to be femail sealions/seals they use as generaly they are easier to train and control.

At least it's an imaginative and efficient solution to a nonexistent problem, as opposed to a cumbersome, expensive reaction to one. Step in the right direction I guess. I bet air travel would go a lot more smoothly if they replaced the TSA with three sea lions and a dolphin at checkpoints, although the secondary screenings might be a bit frightening.

The tough part with this one is that recreational divers often enjoy diving around piers and the like. They provide reef-like structures, and as such, provide homes for fish. Many divers also enjoy diving at night, when the nocturnal creatures come out. By definition, it's the only time when you'll see them.

How does a dolphin know the difference between a legitimate terrorist, and a recreational diver? How do you teach behaviour analysis to an animal?

Somebody is clearly a fan of William Gibson. Let's just hope they keep the marine mammals off drugs:

"Jones, a retired 'navy dolphin'. Jones' previous job was to locate and then hack enemy mines using sensors implanted in his skull .... To keep them loyal, the Navy addicted all of their 'war whales' to heroin...."

Hmmmm. There was a, a, well _idea_ is too strong a word, call it a notion. There was a notion to tag dumped shipments with
satellite xmiters from helicopters that would allow tracking and recovery. I'm told that during pursuit when cargo is dumped it is necessary to map/establish a chain of custody early on to keep the team in the cigarrette boat from saying "Those are not our drugs. Someone else must have lost them there."

I don't know if an animal would be able to provide that link in the chain (not to mention the smell of sea lion in the close confines of a helicopter). Unlike record data or human testimony they really can't be examined can they? Say a dog detects something in someone's bag but the human handler can't find any contraband. Is that someone arrestable on the dog's word alone?

I said *maybe* are a'changing. I am also rather skeptical but I thought it was refreshing for a senior pol to come out and say what he said given the typical fear-mongering pols engage in--even if words are one thing, actions another.

The first being why do the boys in the "cigarette boats" make their consignments float?

If it where me I'd make sure the dam things sank as fast as a plutonium brick ;) and appropriately camouflaged for the sea bed (I'd do a couple of other tricks just incase they accidently got dropped over the side).

The other is the chain of custody when you think about it, it is quite a bit more than a dificult issue.

Technicaly once out of sight the chain is broken...

So if the boys in the cigarette boat put out sufficient smoke and did a "jetsum" under it's cover there is no "chain" unless it can be re-established via forensic evidence. Likewise if they actually had the packages under the hull (on say a cat) and just "invisably" detached them...

It's all a bit messy to put it mildly, especially if the illicit importers decided to run decoys etc as well...

Then again how would the "tags" you mention improve things, unless great care was taken with their design it could be argued that they had been taken from one package and put on another. Not that the average jury would buy it but the judge may well have to.

As for the smell of sealions yup they do have their own charecteristic smell (or atleast Harbour seals do from my experiance), and I for one would not want to drop them out of a helicopter as they are kind of fragile...